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The concept of empathy as it is used in scholarly discourse has been challenged for over 50 years, yet the same ambiguities and controversies associated with the concept persist and, indeed, have accelerated with the accumulation of definitions, subconstructs that are included under the empathy umbrella, and measuring instruments. In this article we address the following interrelated problems: many definitions, authors not offering definitions, authors using instruments that do not match their definitions, authors not specifying definitions and measurements in cited studies, the jingle-jangle problem, and the persistent need for more construct validity research. In this Special Issue on empathy and its problems, authors bring new theoretical insights, creative research designs, and a critical focus on the empathy concept itself.

The term "empathy" is popular, yet fuzzy. How laypeople define it has not been investigated. In Study 1, we analyzed 99 participants' free narratives describing their personal definition, and in Study 1 ( N = 191) and Study 2 ( N = 351), we asked participants to rate a list of specific behaviors and tendencies for how well each one matched their personal definition. Out of 10 coded components, perspective taking was mentioned most often and personal distress (anxious reactivity in emotional situations) was never mentioned. Item ratings revealed four Empathy Concept factors: Prosocial Emotional Response, Interpersonal Perceptiveness, Other Perspective , and Anxious Reactivity. Other Perspective and Prosocial Emotional Response were most highly endorsed while Anxious Reactivity showed the lowest endorsement. Individuals varied widely in their endorsements of the factors. These results demonstrate that laypeople hold a multifactorial set of definitions of empathy and differ widely from one another in which ones they endorse.

The ability to recognise others' emotions from nonverbal cues (emotion recognition ability, ERA) is measured with performance-based tests and has many positive correlates. Although researchers have long proposed that ERA is related to general mental ability or intelligence, a comprehensive analysis of this relationship is lacking. For instance, it remains unknown whether the magnitude of the association varies by intelligence type, ERA test features, as well as demographic variables. The present meta-analysis examined the relationship between ERA and intelligence based on 471 effect sizes from 133 samples and found a significant mean effect size (controlled for nesting within samples) of r  = .19. Different intelligence types (crystallized, fluid, spatial, memory, information processing speed and efficiency) yielded similar effect sizes, whereas academic achievement measures (e.g. SAT scores) were unrelated to ERA. Effect sizes were higher for ERA tests that simultaneously present facial, vocal, and bodily cues (as compared to tests using static pictures) and for tests with higher reliability and more emotions. Results were unaffected by most study and sample characteristics, but effect size increased with higher mean age of the sample. These findings establish ERA as sensory-cognitive ability that is distinct from, yet related to, intelligence.

The empathy concept has central significance for social and personality psychology and in many other domains, including neuroscience, clinical/abnormal psychology, and the health professions. However, the current diversity in conceptual and operational definitions, and the promiscuous use of the term "empathy," threaten the ability of researchers to advance the field. The present article provides a quantitative review and conceptual analysis of empathy definitions and usages by examining 393 studies published between 2001 and 2013, and 96 studies published in 2017. We document the prevalence and diversity of definitions, as well as inconsistencies between conceptual definitions and measurements employed. We discuss ways to refine the conceptualization and operationalization of the empathy construct, including for many purposes, bypassing the term empathy in favor of lower-level construct labels that more precisely describe what is actually being measured. In many cases we see no added theoretical or empirical value in applying the term empathy.

Two studies examined the effect of applicants' smiling on hireability. In a pre-test study, participants were asked to rate the expected behavior for four types of applicants. Newspaper reporter applicants were expected to be more serious than applicants for other jobs. In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to be an applicant or interviewer for a newspaper reporting job. Smiling was negatively related to hiring, and smiling mediated the relation between applicants' motivation to make a good impression and hiring. Hiring was maximized when applicants smiled less in the middle of the interview relative to the start and end. In Study 2, participants watched Study 1 clips and were randomly assigned to believe the applicants were applying to one of four jobs. Participants rated more suitability when applicants smiled less, especially for jobs associated with a serious demeanor. This research shows that job type is an important moderator of the impact of smiling on hiring.

This research examines how women's sexual orientation guides the accuracy of judgements of other women. One hundred ten judges (67 straight and 43 lesbian women) watched videotapes of 9 targets (4 straight and 5 lesbian) and made judgements about the targets' thoughts, emotions, personality, and sexual orientation. Accuracy scores were created for each judge by comparing judgements to criterion data gathered about targets. Straight judges were significantly more accurate at judging thoughts and marginally more accurate at judging emotions compared to lesbian judges. There were no significant differences in judging personality. Straight targets' thoughts and personality were more easily assessed than lesbian targets' while lesbians' emotions were more easily judged than straight targets'. Lesbian judges were more accurate at judging sexual orientation regardless of their tendency to categorize women as lesbian compared to straight judges. Findings support past research on the accurate perception of sexual orientation and contribute to understanding how sexual orientation guides person perception.

This article explores the relationships between communication and social support of parents of children with cancer (N = 44), and the importance of gender-role conflict in fathers. Structural equation modeling and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model were used to test the expected relationships between communication, social support, gender-role conflict, and anxiety, and to control for sample nonindependence. Results suggest communication increases perceived emotional and instrumental social support between parents, and instrumental support from fathers results in less anxiety for mothers. When fathers experienced more conflict about their role as financial supporter for the family (i.e., career achievement gender-role conflict), fathers perceived less instrumental and emotional support from their wives. However, fathers who experienced more conflict about career achievement were also less anxious. A second measure of fathers' gender-role conflict (i.e., emotional expression) was unrelated to either mothers' or fathers' outcomes. The role of gender, communication, and social support in the context of pediatric oncology is discussed.

To test the hypothesis that lower social status is associated with more smiling, the authors used newspaper photographs and their associated news stories as the basis for scoring the smiling and relative social status of the 2 individuals in each photograph. Independent raters judged smiling and 5 dimensions of relative status for 496 individuals in 248 newspaper photographs. There was no relation between status and smiling, although status and smiling were both related to other variables such as gender, age, and story valence. These findings add to a growing body of evidence that there is no generalized relation between smiling and status.

A cooperative program between the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) Department of Social Service (DSS) and the University of Iowa School of Social Work (UISSW) integrates faculty and students with clinicians for both practice and/or research internships. This program has endeavored to enhance practice and research social work through the development of (1) multiple student training programs offering both practice and research placement opportunities, (2) a jointly appointed faculty position between the UISSW and the UIHC DSS designed to improve researchers' access to and involvement with practice and practitioners' involvement in practice research, and (3) specialized student training programs including research projects in practice specialties. This project has helped clinicians conduct research, provided students with practical research experience within a clinical setting, and has increased the likelihood that both staff and students will participate in research.